Preseason Top 25 Polls

[Who'saWildManNow]

Devin Gardner is a MUCH better passer and decision maker than Denard was. I'm not saying he's premier yet by any means but he is still worthy of mention.

Agreed.. It was a rocky start for him but he was pretty impressive as the season went on. How much of a look is Shane gonna get???

 

[Irish Insanity]

Also, we don't run into a premier quaterback all season.. Josh Nunes or Max Wittek may be the best we see.

Devin Gardner is a MUCH better passer and decision maker than Denard was. I'm not saying he's premier yet by any means but he is still worthy of mention.

Gardner is gonna surprise a lot of people this year. He could easily be the best we see this year. I wouldn't consider him premier at this point either, but he has the tools to be one.

 

[Wolverine1997]

Agreed.. It was a rocky start for him but he was pretty impressive as the season went on. How much of a look is Shane gonna get???

Redshirt hopefully. Gardner might get two more years because Michigan is currently in the process of getting a medical redshirt for Gardner's first year in 2010. He played a few early games but didn't the rest of the year due to back problems.

Currently the QB recruiting is set up so there will never be another true freshman forced to start. Already got a 2014 QB commit and the plan is take one per class. ND offered their 2015 target from pipeline school Cass Tech, Jayru Campbell.

 

[koonja]

Is it too early to start a thread on the Notre Dame vs. Michigan positional break down?

Off of the top of my head, we have you at:

QB, WR, TE, DL, LB, CB, S. And NDs coaching>>>UMs.

 

[phork]

Devin Gardner is a MUCH better passer and decision maker than Denard was. I'm not saying he's premier yet by any means but he is still worthy of mention.

Welcome back BTW.

Gardner is a definite upgrade at QB as a QB. But we need not be terrified of his running like we were of Denard. Its a trade off, but think it goes in NDs favour.

 

[ACamp1900]

The Michigan game will be very difficult every year regardless of who is playing for who or who is coaching whoever... All fans on both sides should have learned that one a long time ago... though it seems no ammount of head slamming seems to get this point across at times..

One of our most difficult games next year, no doubt.

 

[Wolverine1997]

Is it too early to start a thread on the Notre Dame vs. Michigan positional break down?

Off of the top of my head, we have you at:

QB, WR, TE, DL, LB, CB, S.

Too early to tell. I hope Derrick Green lives up to the hype and solves all the problems immediately.

Devin vs Golson should be interesting. Honey Funchess 'n' Oats has the edge against any TE in the league this year I think.

The spring game this year is going to be interesting due to all the new faces on OL. The interior OL is all gone this year.

 

[Wolverine1997]

The Michigan game will be very difficult every year regardless of who is playing for who or who is coaching whoever... All fans on both sides should have learned that one a long time ago... though it seems no ammount of head slamming seems to get this point across at times..

One of our most difficult games next year, no doubt.

It's our 2nd night game ever, the Harmon family including Mark from NCIS is going to be there for the unretiring of his father Tom's #98. Same thing that Desmond Howard had in 2011.

Scene is going to be insane. Game is gonna be another thriller I think. The past 4 have been decided by 7 points or less.

 

[phork]

I think its going to be a beat down of epic proportions.

 

[Mr. Larson]

Too early to tell. I hope Derrick Green lives up to the hype and solves all the problems immediately.

Devin vs Golson should be interesting. Honey Funchess 'n' Oats has the edge against any TE in the league this year I think.

The spring game this year is going to be interesting due to all the new faces on OL. The interior OL is all gone this year.

Fresh fish on the interior line?

Derrick Green, meet Louis Nix III.

Good luck with that.

 

[Booslum31]

Oklahoma, ASU?, USC? and Stanford.

IMO, those are the 4 toughest games. We should handle everyone else on that schedule.

We have the talent, we have the experience, we have the depth.

We are not well oiled just yet but I expect to see us significantly pull away from our weaker competition this year.

Temple, Purdue, MSU, Navy, Air Force and BYU are just simply not bringing in the talent and developing at our rate.

In order for us to get to a championship level of football, it is imperative that we stomp these teams.

I never take a breath each year until we get by both Mich and Mich State.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

I never take a breath each year until we get by both Mich and Mich State.

This must have been the first year you've breathed in awhile.

 

[koonja]

Too early to tell. I hope Derrick Green lives up to the hype and solves all the problems immediately.

Devin vs Golson should be interesting. Honey Funchess 'n' Oats has the edge against any TE in the league this year I think.

The spring game this year is going to be interesting due to all the new faces on OL. The interior OL is all gone this year.

That's a bold statement coming off a 15 reception season. ND is better at the TE position.

 

[Booslum31]

This must have been the first year you've breathed in awhile.

Totally true. Last year for me was a pleasant surprise for me. The only game that i was certain we would win (other than the obvious) was USC.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I agree 100% with you. It's the rising tide lifts all boats thing to a great extent. You can hate a rival, but in reality, the better they do, the more it pushes you to improve and the better your wins over them are. Absolutely a key to SEC success. Raising the level of competition touched off an arms race in the South for players and coaches. One team's success drove other teams to work harder to keep up, and all of that drew more top talent and top coaches. In the end, it raised the quality of play enormously and the perception of the league's quality and strength unimaginably.

I may hate Auburn and want to beat them every year and get a little perverse pleasure in their misery when they have a horrible season, but them going 9-3 is actually much better for us than them going 3-9. The better they do, the more it pushes us to work harder, and the more a win over them helps our SOS.

You wouldn't have gotten EV this year if you'd gone 6-6. You got him because you went 12-1 and he can see how bright your future looks. If UM, OSU, ND, etc start consistently winning big, you'll all drive each other to a higher level and draw that sort of elite talent to the region again. You may not like OSU or UM, but their success will actually help you in the long run.

Sorry dude, I like you more than any other poster from another school ever. And I appreciate your intelligence, wit, and good sportsmanship.

And we are in complete agreement to this point.

The principle reason(s) that the SEC is where it is, I mean the genesis of the dominance is because of several reasons. The first is because they still allow more scholarships than the NCAA. Four or five years ago, when the SEC was building itself, it was like the wild west! NO LAW and order whatsover! They use athletic and special needs scholarships from athletes poorly educated at terrible secondary schools who couldn't get in anywhere else (by in large captive audience) in different ways,* they are where the population is moving (nice weather), and per capita there is more outrageous poontang than anywhere else in the country, (with the west cost and desert states).

*See Phil Fulmer and his dyslexic volunteers.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Sorry dude, I like you more than any other poster from another school ever. And I appreciate your intelligence, wit, and good sportsmanship.

And we are in complete agreement to this point.

The principle reason(s) that the SEC is where it is, I mean the genesis of the dominance is because of several reasons. The first is because they still allow more scholarships than the NCAA. Four or five years ago, when the SEC was building itself, it was like the wild west! NO LAW and order whatsover! They use athletic and special needs scholarships from athletes poorly educated at terrible secondary schools who couldn't get in anywhere else (by in large captive audience) in different ways,* they are where the population is moving (nice weather), and per capita there is more outrageous poontang than anywhere else in the country, (with the west cost and desert states).

*See Phil Fulmer and his dyslexic volunteers.

Some of what you say is true, but it's not a blanket explanation that applies to all SEC schools, at least not equally. It did get a little lawless several years ago and the philosphy of "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" applied, but despite the perception, it really isn't that way anymore. Will a school still do something stupid and get in NCAA trouble. Sure. Happens all over. Less in the SEC now than most places, or at least no more than elsewhere.

Same for academics. There are some SEC schools where academics are poor among athletes. We all know Vandy is a top tier private school where academics are very high, but look at Bama, UF, and LSU. Much better than what most believe and well above the national average. You can have a good football team and still recruit bright players who'll work hard in the classroom. Some of it is more perception or stereotyping from years ago. Some of it's deserved still. Slive's done a good job of cleaning up the acts in the SEC and pushing for major improvements in academics. Not all the way there yet, but getting there.

 

[shalom]

Ought to be higher imo.

Maybe, maybe not.

It's all a matter of opinion. How Notre Dame lost to Bama in the title game, the bad taste from Teo's saga plus bias against Notre Dame probably all played into it. Other teams, on the other hand benefit. Stanford and Louisville have young dynamic black coaches and likable teams, they will get the benefit of the doubt.

As a PRACTICAL matter though, this is good for Notre Dame. Being #9 means that Notre Dame has its own destiny next season in its own hands. Looking at ND's schedule and the rankings, if it takes care of its business it will be in a position to play for whatever Bowl they deserve.

Compare that to last season when ND even if undefeated needed help from others' failures to get into the Title Game because it started the season outside of 25 and the biases and corruption of how FBS rankings work where preseason rankings affect how teams move up and down the entire season.

Bottom line is you can argue that ND should be higher or lower. I think rooting for different teams you can make convincing arguments for about 35 teams for rankings up or down.

But in terms of actually mattering what ND has does have in terms of ranking is what they need... from a football perspective. Beat Stanford and everyone else and ND will be BCS maybe Title bound. The rest is just epeen and gravy.

And yes Kelly's flirting with the NFL hurt ND at least with one major recruit but in the end he and his team doing such an awesome job closing recruits is one of the major reasons why ND is in this position, instead of say 14 or 16 and in a bad position for next season

 

[Bogtrotter07]

The big thing is ND will be in control of their own destiny. 9 is high enough to move to two easily by season end. And even with one loss is good enough to stay in the top ten guaranteeing a BCS bowl for this the final year of maddness!

 

[Whiskeyjack]

The big thing is ND will be in control of their own destiny. 9 is high enough to move to two easily by season end. And even with one loss is good enough to stay in the top ten guaranteeing a BCS bowl for this the final year of maddness!

Given our SoS, we'd probably still be within the top 14 with 2 losses, which all but guarantees an at-large berth.

 

[koonja]

Is there a game on our schedule that we won't be favored in? Presumably Stanford?

 

[chicago51]

The big thing is ND will be in control of their own destiny. 9 is high enough to move to two easily by season end. And even with one loss is good enough to stay in the top ten guaranteeing a BCS bowl for this the final year of maddness!

As far as the maddness goes it will be interesting how the playoffs work for ND. Sure if ND makes the playoff great, no problems. If they don't though it is going to be hard to get a select bowl which is all about conference tie ins. ND can go to the Orange Bowl twice in 12 years and that is about it. ND could be ranked 5 and potentially be shut out of a select bowl.

 

[PraetorianND]

Is there a game on our schedule that we won't be favored in? Presumably Stanford?

Preseason I assume only the team ranked higher than us would be favored, Stanford. However, Vegas might have a different opinion. 2011 we were favored by Vegas to beat Michigan St (then #15) after we went 0-2. Obviously nothing really matters preseason but I think based on last years performance we should be favored in all of our games unless we lose one/some or are in the NCG against another undefeated or Bama perhaps.

This is obviously all subject to change once the season gets rolling.

 

[Patulski]

The funniest thing is that Stanford... a team we beat, had more losses, and struggled with a 6 loss big ten team in their bowl game... is a top 5 lock.

People have overreacted like crazy to the championship game blowout.

On the other hand, we did struggle mightily against them at home, and without Rees's late game heroics -that pass to Riddick would be considered legendary had we won the NC game- we would have lost.

I don't know what their personnel losses are, but they have a solid program and the QB that replaced the one we played against appears to be better. Beating them out there is going to be tough.

 

[chicago51]

If Bama, OSU, and ND all go undefeated does ND jump OSU?

 

[Buster Bluth]

If Bama, OSU, and ND all go undefeated does ND jump OSU?

Almost certainly.

 

[Patulski]

deleted

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Getting away from the boys playing with toys there are a few things that concern me about this year. First is ND hatred at an all time high; I will save you some time, the haters are going to be worse this year than ever. I wouldn't even bet on a rating between 10 and 14 guaranteeing us a BCS Bowl. I don't care what is in print, anywhere.

Another thing is the field at Stanford. Playing in a sand pit again is going to really hurt us. Anyone remember two years ago. Without our speed we were toasted monkey nuts.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Though I dislike thinking this way, I believe that the Michigan game is, once again, the critical game for a big season. Getting by those sonuvaguns would propel us into an easily conceivable run all the way to Stanford. [This opinion is based upon our continuous competence against MSU, the continued incompetence of Lane Kiffin, the continued competence of Brian Kelly in beating who we should no matter how ugly, and the rather shocking rebuild job facing Bob Stoops].

 

[arrowryan]

The Michigan game will certainly be a good one, always will be. But there are some big time question marks for the offense of Michigan. They replace all of their interior linemen, breaking in a new running back with pretty much a new offensive line won't be easy, and I think they lost all of their starting receivers?

 

[Fbolt]

I'm looking at the confidence ND players gained in each other, their schemes, and their coaches. With that confidence, the maturation of key players, the developing system, and quality depth-I see great things happening again.

F preseason rankings.